Urgent Appeal on IN Climate Action Plan

Re: Earth Charter Indiana/Youth Power Indiana’s effort to get a Climate Action Plan for Indiana via the rulemaking process and the Environmental Rules Board (ERB). As you recall, Indiana is one of only 16 states without a plan for addressing, adapting to, and reversing the impacts of a changing climate.

Here’s what happened:

In June, a group of young people took the required 200 signatures on a Citizen’s Petition and a comprehensive Statement of Reason to the ERB for consideration, and presented a compelling case for a Climate Action Plan for Indiana. It was received positively by the ERB and scheduled to be voted upon at the next meeting of the board.

On September 10, the ERB deliberated and decided they did not have the jurisdiction to deal with our Petition — even though the Statement of Reason clearly demonstrated that they did, as has our internal legal review since reinforced. In addition, they decided not to even take a vote on the issue regarding the main legal requirement the Petition had to prove: that the request was not “devoid of merit”.

What this means:

Instead of doing the job they were appointed to, they instead wanted to defer this issue to the state legislature and/or governor. Despite the exhaustive efforts of now collecting over 1,000 signatures that support Indiana creating a Climate Action Plan, and meeting all the necessary, legal requirements for action by the ERB for a Citizen’s Petition, the board failed to act according to the statute.

What we are doing in response:

Earth Charter Indiana, Youth Power Indiana and our allies can’t settle for such inaction and blatant disregard for the law. We need to push the ERB for a vote, for a public hearing on a Climate Action Plan, and further advocacy for Indiana to plan for a changing climate.

• Join us in force at the November 12 ERB meeting and help us push the Citizen’s Petition for a Climate Action Plan forward. RSVP to me!

• Stay informed by checking our websites for the latest information…

Rest assured, we can’t give up on planning for the future. We see the Nov. 12 meeting as just the beginning of our efforts, and we’ll need to engage Hoosiers, businesses, universities, the scientific community, medical professionals, the insurance industry, meteorologists, and many, many others to show this board, our legislature and our governor that we need a Climate Action Plan now!